Boldly Going
by Scarabbug
Summary: Shadow watches the screen of the projector –which is filled with images of lasers firing, rocks exploding, people vanishing unconvincingly in swirls of light, and a bunch of guys in red shirts disintegrating– with barely concealed amusement...


**I started writing after I learned that the name "Uhura" is derived from a Swahili word meaning "Freedom" (a revelation that still makes me tear up a bit). I finished it after I watched **_**Star Trek: Generations **_**for the fiftieth time in my life. I usually choose to believe that **_**Sonic X**_** is set in a universe which never went through the Cold War, but on this occasion, I'm going to make an exception to that personal rule. Just as I'm going to kind of just assume that the events of Space Colony ARK took place around about the time that Star Trek first came into existence. I don't think I'm too far off with that logic. **

**This one's for my fellow Trekkies. Deep down, I think Maria, with her attitudes and optimism, could've been a Trekkie too.**

* * *

Boldly Going... 

Shadow watches the screen of the projector –which is filled with images of lasers firing, rocks exploding, people vanishing unconvincingly in swirls of light, and a bunch of guys in red shirts disintegrating– with barely concealed amusement.

'And this one is called...?'

'_Star Trek_. It's about the future,' Maria says, though the added explanation is quite unwarranted. He'd realised exactly _when_ the story was supposed to be set before he even heard the name. For some reason humans think that shiny clothing, flashing control panels, and ridiculously short skirts will define the future of their race. Shadow doesn't think he'll ever understand why.

'And those creatures they're fighting... They're some kind of machine, right?'

'Um, yes, I think so. There was some complicated explanation for them, but "machine" basically covers it.'

Shadow stays silent, continuing to watch for a few more minutes as the guy in the yellow shirt starts making an impassioned speech about… something or other. He's a little out of the loop here. He looks really serious about whatever it is, though, and Shadow can't help but hope he wins the debate. 'Who's that guy?'

'Oh, that's Jim. He's the captain. _All_ the girls have a crush on him.'

'You don't like him?'

'Well, he's nice and all, I guess... though I don't think he was right about those androids at _all_. And I just don't see why girls are always falling over him,' she wrinkles her nose and Shadow resists the urge to smile. Human faces look funny enough as it is, but they're even stranger when they're confused. 'But Sulu is cuter, I think; see he's that guy right there. And Chekov. See. He's Russian, you know. Who'd have thought? American people and Russian people working on the same ship. No fighting or anything. Even grandpa doesn't know if that'll ever happen.'

Shadow has no idea what she's talking about. He really should [pay more attention when the Doctor quotes human history at him. 'Is he your favourite?'

'No. My favourite character is Bones.'

'Who?'

'The Doctor. You'll see him in a few moments. He's a nice person.'

And so they do. Maria is right. Bones is a nice person, and Shadow can understand what he cares about and what's really important, even without having a damned clue what the episode is all about. The expression no the actor's face is one he's seen many times before on Professor Robotnik's, whenever Maria looks like she's coming down with something (which is always a bad thing), or if he's been trying a little too hard in certain training levels.

Shadow smirks. 'Well now, I wonder who _that_ reminds you of.'

Maria smiles back at him. 'Well, he _is_ a little bit like grandpa I guess. It's funny, to think that they still have doctor's really. I would've thought that nobody would ever get sick in their world. Or if they did, then the _Enterprise_ would find a way to make it better without even needing Doctors.'

'The what now?' Shadow blinks.

That's the name of the ship. _Enterprise_, Shadow. Doesn't that sound so much nicer than _ARK_? I wonder if we could get grandpa to change the name...

Uh...

Maria laughs. And the characters on the television screen are laughing too, at the same time, so Shadow can't be sure if she's teasing him, or if Captain Kirk just told a joke that he missed. He tends to miss a lot of the subtleties in human humour.

A new episode is beginning right after the first and Maria doesn't seem to want to move or turn off the projector. I mean it though, Shadow... it's funny that they still need to have doctors. But I guess there are still injuries to think about. It must be very dangerous travelling so far out into space.'

Shadow knows what she's thinking, because every now and then (or should that be "sooner or later"?) conversation turns towards her own illness. Towards the badness curdling inside her that even her beloved grandpa (or her Doctor Bones and Captain Kirk) can never truly heal, no matter how much he tries. An illness that comes from within rather than from outside.

'How far in the future is this, anyway?'

'Um... about a hundred and fifty years or so.'

'And you think that's what you humans will be doing by then? Going out and travelling the stars? Boldly going where no one has gone before?'

'Now you're just quoting the prologue.' Maria smiles, wrinkling her nose as she does so. 'But yes, basically. It would be nice to think that silly things like health and time and your skin colour didn't matter anymore. I mean. look at Uhura, Shadow.' She points at a beautiful dark skinned woman sitting at a computer. 'She's _African_. Just like Doctor Munroe.'

'Is that important?' Shadow asks with what he knows is probably naive curiosity.

'Of course it is! Honestly, Shadow, didn't you listen when Grandpa gave us that speech all about Equal Rights and Mister Luther King? Grandpa saw him during a speech once, you know.' Maria smiles, and tactfully avoids making him answer her question. Just as well. Shadow really can't remember paying any attention to the Doctor's speech. 'I wish I could've been there, too… And I guess in Star Trek, it must've worked, because now she can go wherever she wants and do whatever she wants. She's in a position of _authority_. On board a Federation Starship. And she's working with Russians and Americans and the Chinese… _that's_ the way the world should be. The world that grandpa wants.' She sounds so confident. So sure of herself, that her determination must rub off on him a little bit, because Shadow finds him looking back at the television and smiling ever so slightly, but that smile fades when he realises...'

'Sounds to me like a world like that... wouldn't have any need for an Ultimate Lifeform.' Maria glimpses at him, as if she's not quite sure how to answer. Shadow smiles faintly. '…I wouldn't mind.'

'What?'

'Well. If it was a world where you were happy, I wouldn't mind at all not being needed.'

There is silence for a long moment. Mr Sulu seems to have gone a little crazy because he's wielding a sword in a corridor… maybe this world isn't so idealised after all. After all, people can still get sick. Then Maria shuffles along the sofa until she's right up close to him, nestled against his fur. 'I could never be happy in a world without _you_ in it.'

_Yes you could_, Shadow thinks, but he doesn't say so aloud. He doesn't want to break the companionable silence. Besides, he wants to see how the episode ends.

Maria suddenly jumps up, squealing about there being another episode coming up where some guy named Spock "actually smiles for once!" Shadow doesn't have a clue what she is talking about. But he figures that if it's important to her, then he can deal with whatever weirdness Star Trek comes out with…


End file.
